Las Vegas City Wire

The VA Southern Nevada Health Care System, subsidiary 593 in North Las Vegas, Nevada scheduled 74,331 pending appointments during the period ending January 1, according to data collected from the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Of the total number of appointments, 61,315 had a wait time of 30 days or less (82.5%) and 13,016 appointments (17.5%) were scheduled more than 30 days out.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in January 2019 reported that wait times for new appointments at VA health care facilities were similar to or better than wait times at private-sector providers between 2014 and 2017.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), however, released a report in July 2019 that cautioned that the VA's data-tracking system only captures part of the appointment process and fails to account for the time that it takes the VA to enroll veterans in its health benefits program.

The VA explains on its website that when veterans apply for benefits, they are assigned to one of eight priority groups, with those who need immediate care due to service-related disabilities placed in higher priority groups. Veterans who do not have service-connected disabilities and who earn a higher income are placed in the lower priority groups.

Facility Code	Location	Total Appointments Scheduled	Appointments Scheduled 30 Days or Less	Appointments Scheduled More than 30 Days
593	North Las Vegas	74,331	61,315	13,016
593GE	Las Vegas	13,315	12,873	442
593GD	Las Vegas	13,101	12,742	359
593GF	Southwest Las Vegas	12,940	12,493	447
593GG	Las Vegas	8,415	8,225	190
593GC	Pahrump	2,951	2,938	13
593GH	Laughlin	1,619	1,528	91
593QC	West Cheyenne	223	220	3

Source: U.S. Veteran's Administration